A self-proclaimed spiritual healer told a woman with terminal cancer he could cure her using alternative remedies and encouraged her to stop medical treatment, health authorities have found.

The woman in her 60s had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, an aggressive disease with a low survival rate.

The Health Complaints Commissioner found that “healer” Dennis Wayne Jensen supplied her with B17, a compound extracted from stone fruit which has been linked to cyanide poisoning, claiming it would cure her cancer.

Self-proclaimed healer Dennis Wayne Jensen.

Mr Jensen, who lives on a bushland property in North Warrandyte, had previously come to the attention of authorities over his treatment of nurse Helen Lawson, who he allegedly prescribed another controversial alternative treatment, a corrosive paste called black salve.

Proponents of B17, otherwise known as laetrile or amygdalin, say the substance taken from apricot kernels can fight cancer, and the reason it’s not used widely is because of a conspiracy to protect the profits of big pharmaceutical companies.

In fact, the authors said it posed a significant risk of cyanide poisoning.

The woman treated with B17 died in June last year, four months after being seen by Mr Jensen. There’s no suggestion the B17 contributed to the death.

After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer less than 10 per cent of people live longer than five years.

The probe into Mr Jensen's behaviour has led Victorian authorities to issue a fresh warning about those who prey on the sick and vulnerable.

B17 is sold online for cancer despite evidence it's of no benefit, and possibly dangerous.

“It’s incredibly important the public knows that alternative therapists are not permitted to make claims that these remedies, including black salve and [B17], will cure cancer,” Ms Cusack said.

This month Mr Jensen was banned by the Health Complaints Commissioner from importing, manufacturing, or compounding any substance that he or anyone else claims can cure cancer.

In a letter in response to the action, Mr Jensen claimed that he was being denied the right to heal, stripped of his religious rights and that the commissioner was protecting the chemotherapy industry, which he described as a “toxic poison”.

Later he said that he had the support of the United Nations, and denied he had ever discouraged the woman from receiving medical treatment.

“I’ll think you’ll find that she went ahead with it, and that was her demise,” he said.

He had previously told The Age B17 a “known cure”.

A Therapeutic Goods Administration spokesman said that amygdalin (B17) was prohibited for use as a therapeutic good in Australia and classified as a substance that posed such a danger to health to warrant prohibition of sale, supply and use.

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Nevertheless, it is easily available for sale online.

One site sells a 21-day supply of B17 and other supplements for cancer patients for $4760, claiming it can destroy cancer cells and that it is supported by hundreds of clinical studies which “give us complete confidence that there is no danger”.

These types of unsupported claims about B17 and other alternative cancer treatments with little or no scientific backing are common online.

Cancer Council Victoria chief executive Todd Harper said people diagnosed with serious cancers were looking for hope, which sometimes led them to consider things they wouldn’t have before.

“If you jump on the internet you will find lots of claims of miracle cures, but if those miracle cures … lived up to the claims some of them were making, we wouldn’t have any cancer in the community,” he said.

“Clearly those claims are not supported by evidence and can be dangerous.”

Mr Harper encouraged people to take their most difficult questions to their doctor and also not to be frightened of getting a second opinion.

He said that people facing limited treatment options may also want to consider asking about clinical trials for new drugs and treatments.

“Clinical trials essentially can offer some patients the opportunity to test new treatment options, but do so in a way that is subject to those scientific and ethical oversights,” he said.

Cancer survival rates continue to improve in Australia. In the 1980s only about half of those diagnosed were still alive after five years. Now almost 70 per cent survive.